dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran approximately 5 miles this morning, running most of it with my running class.  I suspect that I may have actually run a bit farther than 5 miles, but I have no measurements where we ran today, so I am not completely sure.  My leg a knee felt pretty good today as I did not feel any tightness or soreness until the last half mile or so (this is the best I have felt in quite a while), although my back felt tight and uncomfortable for pretty much the entire run (bummer).  I ended up biking 6 miles today as I rode to and from school twice.

On a side note, Kimia has still not had the baby.  Now, she has not even hit 39 weeks yet, but if you would have asked me on Thursday I would have sworn that the baby was going to come over the weekend due to the number of contractions that Kimia was having.  As a result, I am now getting just a little impatient (and I am not the one packing an extra 30 pounds with a baby inside of me, imagine how Kimia must feel).

I ran 5 miles this morning in 38:16.  This is the fastest run (pace/mile) that I have completed in a while as it was raining and my rain jacket seems to have lost its waterproofing so I ran a little quicker.  On the plus side of things my leg felt pretty good with the exception of a short stretch around mile 3 when the quad tightened up for a bit.  My back on the other hand was complaining for the majority of the run, similar to yesterday.  I am not quite sure what is going on there as I have had chronic back pain for years, however my problems have been fairly minimal for approximately 3 years now.  It seems too coincidental that around the same time period that I am having quad and knee issues, my back starts acting up again, with the discomfort localized to the left side only (the same side where I am having the other problems).  I stretched out my back and hamstrings after I got home in an effort to try and minimize the discomfort in my back.

I haven't run yet today, and I am not sure if I will because Kimia had our baby at 5:36 am.  Both mom and baby are doing great.  To top things off, Kimia rode her bike approximately 3 miles from our apartment to the hospital before having the baby.  Kimia actually said that riding the bike made the contractions more manageable, and she was not in as much pain while riding, wherease when stopped she couldn't even walk.  We rolled into the parking lot at about 5:15 am, and by the time we got situated around 5:30 am it was just about time to start pushing.  I will upload photos when I get the chance.

Mom and baby Kamran just following the birth

Kamran doesn't seem to like the lights very much

In riding the bike to the hospital and back home later on in the day to pick up the kids I ended up riding about 5.5 miles, although I did not run at all.

The only chance I had to run today was in the morning.  Due to the fact that Kimia was at the hospital and I was alone at home with the kids I was unable to run.  I thought that after Kimia's dad got to Ames from the airport I would be able to go on a run, but we got home from the hospital late enough that there was not enough time.

On a side note: while we were getting ready to leave the hospital another mom was in delivery.  Everything had been progressing normally, but the baby did not start breathing when it was born.  The baby was rushed to the NICU, while the mother, grandmother, and aunt were distraught.  We saw them crying as they spoke to others on the phone, worried that their little baby was about to die.  Seeing the pain expressed on their faces caused me to reflect on our own baby sleeping peacefully just a few feet away.  How grateful I am that our little Kamran did not have to go through an ordeal such as that.

Kimia and I ended up going into the waiting room with the grandmother and aunt and we offered to say a prayer with them to help in their time of need.  They are not of our faith (they are Quakers), but they accepted and I was able to offer a prayer to our father in heaven asking that their little one would be spared.  Shortly after we finished the prayer a nurse came in to the waiting room to talk with the grandmother and we went back to our own room.  The aunt came to speak with us later and told us that the baby had begun to breathe on its own and that the doctors believed that the baby had come down with some sort of infection which had caused the initial problems.  While the baby was not completely out in the clear the prognosis was looking much better.

I felt the hand of the Lord in our life yesterday, prompting me to go and help comfort this family.  I feel blessed to have a healthly baby boy, who was born without complications, and I feel blessed to have been able to give aid to this family in their time of need.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Here are a few more pictures that we took while at the hospital:

Anita holding baby Kamran,

Shayon holding the baby,

Anita and Shayon holding the baby.  I love the look on Shayon's face in this picture, he looks so devious.  Both kids love giving kisses to the baby, they are very sweet.

The whole family together

I ran about 5.5 miles today, running about 3.5 miles with my running class, and running the last 2 miles alone.  My leg is continuing to improve, while I have not felt any discomfort in the knee in the last few days.  My back on the other hand does not feel good.  I am not sure if my hips have gotten out of alignment or if I am dealing with pain related to overcompensation following the leg injury.

As far as baby updates go, we came home from the hospital last night, and baby Kamran pooped multiple times in the middle of the night.  Kimia is pretty tired because she was up with Kamran quite a bit.  I did get up with Shayon as he wet his pants in the middle of the night and I got to change him and put him back to sleep.  Unfortunately however, Shayon was having trouble going back to sleep so he ended up sleeping with me in our bed for half of the night (its good we are small people, because otherwise we would not all fit in bed).

Here are a few more pictures that we took before leaving the hospital yesterday:

Kamran with his eyes open

Kamran sleeping in the car seat shortly before going home

I ran 6 miles this morning in about 46:30.  I felt pretty good for most of the run.  My quad felt mildly tight for part of the run, but not bad, while my knee only felt odd for a minute or so as I was running up the hill towards my apartment at the end of the run.  My back did not feel good, but did not feel too bad either, as I was able to do things while running to help it relax so that there was minimal discomfort.